Orange County, California
From Sunshine Review
Orange County is one of 58 counties in California. Its population is estimated (by the state of California) to be 3,121,251 as of 2008, making it the third most populous county in the state, behind San Diego County. Its county seat is Santa Ana.
Five Orange County cities have populations exceeding 170,000. Irvine is the county's primary business hub.
Thirty-four incorporated cities are located in Orange County; the newest is Aliso Viejo, which was incorporated in 2001. Anaheim is the oldest, incorporated in 1870 when the region was part of Los Angeles County.
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[edit] Governance
Orange County's legislative and executive authority is vested in a five-member Board of supervisors. Each Supervisor is popularly elected from a regional district, and together the board oversees the activities of the county's agencies and departments and sets policy on development, public improvements, and county services. At the beginning of each year the Supervisors select a Chairman and Vice Chairman, but the administration is headed by a professional municipal manager, the County Executive. The current supervisors as of 2008 are Janet Nguyen, John Moorlach, Bill Campbell, Chris Norby, and Patricia C. Bates.
Seven other public officials are elected at-large: the County Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, District Attorney, Sheriff-Coroner, Treasurer-Tax Collector and Public Administrator. Since 2008, the Orange County Sheriff's Department has been led by Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens. Her predecessor, Mike Carona, resigned earlier in the year to defend himself against corruption charges.
[edit] Security at board meetings
"Orange County supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday [January 27, 2009] to seize back control of security at their meetings after deputies swarmed the boardroom earlier this month, intimidating gun activists from speaking out against Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’ new concealed weapons policy." The new security ordinance was sponsored by Supervisors Norby and Nguyen who cite their reasons for proposing the change as “to assert our authority that we’re ultimately in charge of security”. [1]
[edit] Website evaluation
- Main article: Evaluation of California county websites
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[edit] The good
- The names and contact information for all board of supervisor members is available.[2]
- Board of supervisor meeting agendas and minutes are published.[3]
- The current budget is published.[4]
- Information on contracts is published.[5]
- Audit reports are published.[6]
- Information on taxes is published.[7]
- Information on building permits and zoning is available.[8]
- There is a procedure for requesting public records.[9]
- The names of all administrative officials are provided.[10]
[edit] The bad
- Contact information is not provided for administrative officials.
[edit] Lobbying
In 2008, Kings County reported $986,000 spent on lobbying. [11]
[edit] External links
- Orange County
- Orange County on Wikipedia
- Orange County on E-Reference
- Orange County Visitor Guide
- Orange County Jobs
- Anaheim / Orange County Information
- Orange County Entertainment
- The Orange County Register
- The Orange County Superior Court of California
- The John Wayne Airport: Gateway to Orange County
[edit] References
- ↑ Board takes over security of its meetings, Orange County Register, January 27, 2009
- ↑ Board
- ↑ Meetings
- ↑ Budget
- ↑ Contracts
- ↑ Audits
- ↑ Taxes
- ↑ planning
- ↑ Records
- ↑ Org Chart.
- ↑ [1]
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